₦airaland Forum

steady986:
This Golden State's pattern is not sustainable sha. Just my observation.

yup. wont withstand a 7 game series

Khanben:
So fellow pros are clowns?

Some of them are unfortunately. Even among the pros, not all of them are professionals. Some rely mostly on skill, and will never really get to the next level - they are comfortable with stat lines and contracts. What has CJ improved in? Some people's hate are not even worth the energy. Its not that they dont respect his skill. Its that he is not in the clique. If these are who you are referring to, meh, no biggie

Roland17:
I agree with you about C. Wood but I don’t think Wood will remain with the Rockets, it will be interesting to see if he is not traded to a competitive team. There is some chatter that he could be traded.

Indeed, you are spot on. I hope we dont count our eggs before they hatch and trade him away thinking we have something better. He could very well be our #1 option over Jalen Green.

benji93:
What are you talking about? Wan ti de. "No one will show all their hands in the regular season". . You were obviously not listening. I said Curry was terrible, yet they barely won at home. And please don't give me the Klay has not played for 2 years talk. You mean Mr 2,3-dribbles-60-points? Players will be able to defend Klay more? Were you sleeping when you wrote this? Have you forgotten the Curry factor? How many people you go put on Klay and how many people you go put on Curry? Continue. Besides, 7-feet wiseman will also provide some big man minutes. I looking forward to WIseman dominating Ayton as Giannis did. .
The Suns are more dangerous? On which grounds? Please explain.

Right now Warriors are a one man crew. If you calm Curry down, you can beat them. Suns have multiple weapons that secure a win on any night. If Klay was healthy and has his legs, he could take some heat off of Curry come playoffs. But I dont think he will get his legs back to that extent this year. Its ok if you believe otherwise

Khanben:
Dude people called him the Robin to Middleton's batman. If that is not disrespect I don't know what is.

like who? I mean serious guys o, not cj mccollum, dinwiddie and fellow clowns. I mean among guys like SAS, TNT crew, Fox crew etc

Roland17:
At least people like @Aliondo are loyal supporters despite the sad state of his team.

Unlike @Birdman wen don desert him Rockets after feeding Harden all the burgers wen dey Houston and laying a curse on him. These days he can be seen bandwagoning the Lakers and hating anything Celtics

I follow Rockets very avidly. I want to see Silas have the freedom of 2 more seasons with these guys and Im ok with tanking this season as well to get another good draft pick. It feels terrible to be at the bottom of the standing right now (we are actually worse than Thunder), but we have a talented core already that will surprise people in a few. They just need some time outside the limelight, but you gon recognize these names in a bit. Wood, Green, KPJ and Sengun are all-star material at the very least.

donlittle25:
birdman na so?

lol, no mind roland17. No one even knew I was a rockets fan until 2-3 years back, even though I have always followed Rockets more than any other team. That is because I am more moved by personalities than teams. I understand that teams are corporations at the end of the day, so I dont over sweat it. I am not bleeding red or green for any bagger that does not pay me a cent out of their billions . Thats just the way I roll

benji93:
The best this Suns team will get against GSW with Klay is one or two games, and even those games will be close. I would have been more convinced if that first game was a blowout.

The fact that this was a blowout means this game cannot be used to measure the suns strength. Na chess game o, and no one will show all their hands in the regular season.

I think the Suns are more dangerous than the Warriors still. Klay hasnt played NBA ball in years. He is not going to make the impact people expect in the playoffs. Also remember the rule change that is hampering jump shooters. Players will be able to defend more Klay more aggressively

A40:
I'm not out here expecting players to have the same level of hype I'm speaking to flat out disrespect and diminishing of certain player's greatness inspite of his historic feats

Give me some examples. I personally havent seen anyone disrespect or diminish Giannis. I really am interested to know such instances

aliondo:
Chai...my OKC..

it brought you out of hiding

A40:
Lol you just dey find excuse wey no dey. There is difference between not being marketable and general lack of respect. When you say marketable what does that even mean? I get that there are many players in any sport with more style than substance but it gets to a point where your achievements are undeniable and the bare minimum you should get is the highest level of respect

Now with your Hakeem analogy Hakeem was highly respected and revered, they called this man The Dream ffs, Perhaps there was a higher appreciation for greatness then than there is now because even Hakeem had not done what Giannis has done at 26, nobody has. Think about that, not Jordan, not LeNomad, not Duncan, not Shaq and not Kobe

Outside of htown, Hakeem didnt get that much play. Thats just the honest truth. People can reminisce now, but it was what it was.

What you think of as respect is really just name dropping to sell shows that sell ads. If you dont make much trouble and are in a small market, you wont get much play. Go ask Tim Duncan - highly respected, but didnt get much play. By the same token,rookie Lebron wasnt the best player in the league in his early years, but he had enough antics to keep the news mill rolling at the same time Duncan was at the top of his game. Lebron got more props than Duncan did, even when Duncan won that ring vs Cavaliers!!

It is what it is. Nobody owes Giannis, or any other player anything. If you are going to keep your accent and stay in a small market, you cant get mad your name is not rolling off the pundits lips. No big deal as far as I am concerned.


some blockhead is going to read this and start talking about how I hate Giannis

steady986:
The Lakers intend to start Dwight Howard against the Clippers and use only one center per game going forward. I want to see a rotation of AD and Dwight at the center. Given that LeBron can play and has played the center position in spurts this season, I think this is the right decision. Plus Ariza is on his way back to add more size in that front court.

Welcome news!

A40:
A lot of it is deliberate if you ask me and I still narrow it down to Giannis not being from there, the whole market thing in this era of tech and social media is a tired excuse. He is being deliberately overlooked. LeNomad played in Cleveland and got his dues

Giannis is not marketable to the American audience. Period. Forget all the accolades they give him for being the good hardworking guy. The accent means they have to pay attention to hear what he is saying, and that is too much work for most people. We may think that is lazy, but it is what it is. If Giannis was more of a bad boy or dirty player, then at least the media would have an easy story to spin around him, just like in the movies. The bad african general, er player

Reminds me of Hakeem

steady986:
The Suns play tonight? Damn. And then they travel to the Bay to play Golden State tomorrow. And GS would be rested for 3 days. Plus no Booker. Na wah o. GS should win this easily.

steph needs to drop 60 pts on 20 of 20 shooting to pacify me

A40:
I personally think birdman's otumorkpo is at work because how is a guy niggas swore was a #3 SG of all time and most dynamic scorer ever looking like Raymond Felton all cause of a rule change

I had nothing to do with it abeg. Im a lover not a babalawo . I wish Harden nothing but the best, for real. But this is why pride is so dangerous - you make foolish decisions based on an inflated estimation of your skill. I do hope he gets his mojo going though. At least he is trying, and it wouldnt surprise me if he heats up in the second half of the season.

Roland17:
Teams are looking for a reaction especially as we approach the half way point of the season. Kemba’s situation was predictable to me because when I heard he was going to NY to be coached by Thibs? I knew there was going to be a big problem. Thibs expects a lot from his players defensively and that is his weakness. Thibs wants his players to go hard every second, he does not go deep into his roster anyways and doesn’t have time to cater to glass players. Remember the hot start to the season with Fournier and Kemba? Well, all of that has mellowed and the Knicks had to make a decision.

As for Blake, he has endured a very difficult start to the season, Aldridge and Brown have offered them more. I think he gets back in the rotation, his skill set will be needed in the post season. The Nets are desperately looking for offensive contribution from everyone not name KD and right now they have only LA and Mills doing that consistently and that is troubling. Like I said earlier, as we approach Christmas, teams will be making strong roster decisions.

JVG had the same issue. He would penalize offensively gifted players to the point of playing scrubs, just because the scrubs could hustle. What usually happens in the long term is that hustle and heart cannot win out over skill - you still gotta put up more points than the opponents. Then the front office will start asking questions, as in, why are we losing, and Kemba is sitting? Eventually coach will move on to the next job. Thibodeau is a very good assistant coach, I am not convinced he has what it takes to impact a winning culture into a team. That disciplinarian vibe will only get you so far with professionals.

the fact that he had to out his own player like that, in itself is already a bad move for a coach. How does that help team chemistry?

A40:
Naah. I'm saying teams are playing a lot harder against the Lakers than other teams. Which explains why Sacramento was getting destroyed by a Memphis without Ja. Even look at yesterday's game look at the lead the Lakers had and only ended up winning by 4. Every single win the Lakers have had to sweat

They should relax abeg. these lakers are too old to play defense

A40:
See the same Sacramento that took Lakers to triple overtime losing by 30 to a Memphis without Ja Morant this is further proving my theory. You will see the film Detroit would do as well

you are very happy these day, ba? LeKing will be bounce back, dont you worry

donlittle25:
with LeBron style of play, how any GM or Coach or executive thought Westbrook could fit with LeBron is beyond me, especially at this their age.

You don't just throw stars around, You have to see if they fit

Been saying this since before the season. There was at best a big 2 on this team. Love what Melo is doing, but he is a journeyman at this point. Westbrick is a negative. I do not see this team getting past even the first round of the playoffs. If Lebron tries to compensate and play like he used to 3 or 4 years ago, he will likely get injured and it will be the end. The only way this big 2 was going to work was if AD became the best player on the team, like I said last year.

Such a shame that in his 18th,19th year LeKing still has to play like this. Shildren of nowadays

steady986:
Nobody dey fear them. Dem don dey cool down sef.

Growing pains. They shouldnt even have gelled this quickly. Their road record is not good, but this should get better as season goes on.

steady986:
Year 19

These bulls will ruin the playoffs for someone this year

steady986:
The best take I've heard on this Stephen A's take about LeBron not being feared like MJ was is from Marcus Spears. Absolutely spot on.

SAS is sneaky. Man knows how to generate news cycles.

Khanben:
The decision will not take 2 seconds for me. Giannis

If they say we trading AD to Bucks for Giannis to Lakers, you think steady986 will ptotest?

Android17:
If you are a Knicks fan you have to be livid. The referees are cheating you guys in this 2nd quarter.

No they arent. Lakers were playing very bad defense, made Randle think he was kevin garnett They brought dome defense next quarter and the rim started to look tight for the knicks

benji93:
Nice statline against the Pistons team that got wrecked by GSW without Curry and Draymond. Nice statline.

you said it better than I could. Pistons o. Bottom feeders even in the east

steady986:
Stewart had LeBron right in front of him but couldn't do shiit. Was he awestruck? Running round the court like a mad dog, dey form tough guy. DAJ was ready to knock your teeth out for the team. You wan use LeBron get attention. You don see superstar wey you go use get small reputation. The king handled himself well. That's how superstars handle things.

Guys that act like this usually dont know how to fight. They can pound on you if you scared by their antics, but they usually lose to people who stay calm and ready. If you come running at a puncher with your head first like a mad man, that is a gift. One hook to your temple and next thing you wake up on the floor as someone is trying to revive you with water .

Unfortunately, guys like this are usually b***, and will think nothing of going after you, your family, anyone around you just to satisfy that demonic anger. The league will be watching this guy. People with this type of hidden anger cant be around nice things.

steady986:
Only one player in the current NBA can come up with this type of stat line. Only one. No worry yourself. Best big man in the league.

It took Lebron being ejected and almost run over by a mad man for him to do this. They were going to lose by double digits. Look, any star can give you this stat line on any given night. even Furkan Kormkaz. The superstars do it night in night out. Thats the difference! It has to be in your character, not something you conjure up when you feel gingered.

A40:
Wow Lakers. What a comeback!!

See how the team galvanized after LeNomad got ejected. Later these Bronsexual pundits will talmbout how LeNomad makes a team better and teams struggle without him. Well they struggle because they aren't being the best version of themselves

Lebron usually makes his team mates better, just by his bball wisdom. But it also tends to make his team mates get lazy because Lebron is there to bail you out. The team needs a respected enforcer that is not Lebron to get keep everyone disciplined. But everyone on this team is a nice guy.

wait, they were down 12 before the foul? Wow

Roland17:
That guy no send LeBum.. Omo the kain strength wen e take dey down people wen hol am no be here oh! He was tossing them like donut left right and center

You hear announcer dey warn say "Fans stay off the court"! Any good student of the game should know why!

That announcement took me waaaayyyyy back! Shout out to Ben Wallace and Ron Artest (Metta World Peace)

Just went to watch it after your post. Frustration foul from Lebron as Stewart tried to mow him down for the rebound. For real though, guys like Stewart are the type of guys that will hold malice for months, go get a side piece and hit up the club shooting.

A40:
Abeg bone that thing. Tatum can go on this binge against any team. I do agree his shot selection is a work in progress but same argument can be made for guys like Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell etc. Not everyone is going to prioritize efficiency.

Agreed, although some team mates have grumbled about it as well. Mitchell has learnt to let the game come to him more than he used to. Book is smaller than Tatum and he uses his quickness more to get open enough to take those high arcing shots. What is amazing to me is how Mitchell is the smallest of the 3, but he imposes himself on offense just as well.

This Lakers team needs to be blown up. Coach Fizdale's body language is saying a lot. This team wants to superstar its way to a ring instead of working for it. Its not just Russ. Even AD has not really bought into the grind necessary. I am really interested to see how Lebron plays this. On the Heat, Pat Riley was that bad cop who could make everybody sit up. The team was also very mature with professionals like Shane Battier. I dont see that type of professionalism with this Lakers crew. Outside of Lebron, Melo, THT everyone is pretending to play hard.

Btw, is Al Horford a big man? Im just asking ni o

A40:
That's how they said Luka and Trae have far exceeded Jayson Tatum. Na wa oh

One game vs a Lakjers team that has forgotten how to play defense. Stop it. And this is something Tatum needs to learn- games like this will come where its like you cant miss. But you cant carry that to the next game. Those same shots will not fall late in the game with a better defensive team. I just get that feel he goes into the next game and tries to chuck his way to 40 pts again.